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Students success stories

I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to study at MEDFOR. Studying in an international environment simply gave me a great chance to interact with many researchers and professors from different countries. This also offered me many benefits in my professional development. I have been working for three years at the Swedish Forest Society Foundation. The foundation manages forests for private and public landowners, emphasising economic, ecological and social sustainability.

"MEDfOR has offered to its students a multidisciplinary program revolving around Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management. Although some students encountered some difficulties during the first year, the program proved to be beneficial and successful the second year. In fact, the MEDfOR universities network offers its students different specializations opportunities, allowing them to follow their vocation and to benefit from a good level of professionalism in a specific field of their choice.
One of the constitutive pillars of the MEDfOR program is the mobility track required during the two years of the master program. Apart from offering the chance for the student to experience an independent life away from his environment, the mobility track puts the student in confrontation with different societies and life-styles. This experience is very life-enriching, promoting the personal growth of the individuals. It also offers the opportunities to learn new languages and discover at least two different countries. Moreover, the MEDfOR consortium organizes for its students a winter school in the first year in which they are brought to participate in the annual young researchers meeting. The meeting allows the students to gain knowledge about different research and management topics in forestry (mainly from each other), and to meet some professionals in the field. Apart from that, students have to pursue their own objectives and could benefit from excellent professors and supervisors." I have enjoyed completing my MEDfOR thesis at the University of Tuscia, and benefited from participating in an other European project called BIOINNO about Bio-entrepreneurship. This experience, along with the encouragement of my supervisor, led me to pursue a PhD at the University of Cambridge. I am currently in the third year of my PhD in forest ecology and conservation, working on Mediterranean forests resilience to climate change." 29/07/2015

In one word, MEDfOR master program was an invaluable experience. The institutes, people and places, everything was great. It was mainly focused on the Mediterranean ecosystem, but the knowledge, information and training provided were beyond that particular ecosystem. Being a PhD student in a different country, I can tell that, all those can be used globally. In that sense, MEDfOR helps the students to develop with global competency. It also opens several new opportunities to its’ students to pursue a future career. Of course, the diversity, mobility and bond among all are the main strength of this program, which also made this program unique one" 15/01/2019.

"I am currently doing PhD in Forest Ecology in University of Padova, Italy. As a part of research, I am analysing trees cores collected from altitudinal and latitudinal zones of world and try to see the correlation of it with temperature and precipitation with the approach of wood anatomy. Regarding MEDfOR, it was a great experience to know the culture and learning module adopted in different European Universities. Moreover, it helps to sharpen my knowledge on forestry and natural resources." Sudip Pandey, 12/11/2015.

"I am currently a GIS analyst for the Baltimore City Forestry Division in the state of Maryland in USA. One major project I am working on is implementing a full tree inventory of the city's street and park trees to use as an assett management system. Another project is to use land cover datasets to perform spatial analysis such as determining tree canopy cover statistics and prioritizing planting areas." 3/11/2015

"I live in the USA and work as GIS Analyst and Cartographer at Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks (which includes the city's Forestry Division). I also have an art studio where I produce my own cartography, graphic design, and artwork." 30/11/2018

"After completing the MEDfOR program I came back to Ethiopia. I have continued working as a University lecturer. Currently, I am offered with research scholarship at the National University of Singapore for my PhD; God willing I will start this coming January (2016).

My stay in the MEDfOR program had been quite interesting! It has enriched my experience and added value in my personal development. The classes were all exciting and I have met professors who are dedicated and try their best to enrich their students! It has enabled me to meet people from almost all continents and gave me the chance to see their diverse perspective to life.

All in all Erasmus Mundus experience is a great opportunity at any measures! I wish all the best to MEDfOR program!" 30/11/2015

"I presented my thesis under the title: Trends in wildfire risk at time-scale: optimizing fuel treatments configurations in eucalyptus plantation in Portugal.
Creativity, patience, friendship, enthusiasm, adventures, curiosity...These might have been the motor and the result of my work during these two years." Hope this master can help in finding a job according to my ambitions. It provided me with a lot of field and real experiences during the studies and the summer internship in the forest sector,I gained knowledge about diffents issues in the Mediterranean area and it helped me to be more skilled in languages. In the personal aspect I am very satisfied for meeting so many people and cultures and making very good friends and colleagues, now part of what I am! 2015.

“Now, I'm finishing the 2nd year of the MEDfOR program in Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) in Lisbon, Portugal. This experience was unique and important not only in terms of getting new knowledge inside of the classroom, but also in discovering and learning more about different cultures and meeting amazing people. Definitely, it make me grow as a person by dealing with all the challenges that I faced during the (almost) last 2 years.” 30/06/2015

“I am currently working in the department of Geography at University of Oregon, USA as both a graduate student and a teaching assistant for GIS. MEDfOR was a great experience where I met wonderful people that we have exchanged ideas and knowledge with each other and enjoyed our time together. What I learned from this program is not only about the courses we have taken, but also how I reflected about myself in pursuing a better life through the travelings and communications. It is always fascinating how we gain knowledge on the human-environment interaction gradually and somehow subtly by enjoying the process." 2015.

" I am now a geographer specializing in GIS and pursuing a doctorate degree at the University of Oregon. My dissertation topic is on the effects of climate change and governance on large-scale forest insect outbreaks in western North America. I like very much my work environment although I do hope there are more sunny days in Eugene. America is very advanced in academic and thus I have to push myself in a professional path. I start to see myself both a forester and a geographer. The biggest challenge so far, surprisingly (or not), is English. I am still training myself for better communication in academic. I have met some good friends and I found my talent in programming. I tried different new things and I wish I have more time for writing. I also tried teaching, which is not my favorite, but I want to be good at it. I am glad I've met all of you and the professors particularly whom I worked closely with. That's what MEDfOR benefits me most. I wish you all enjoy your life." 11/05/2016

“This master (mobility with scholarship) is specific for me because it allowed me to discover and to learn several opportunities at different levels (sicence, culture, ...). My thesis's topic was a socio-economic valorization of medicinal plant in Algeria, supervised by Prof. Davide Pettenella. I would like to thank a lot to whom is related to the management of rhe Mediterranean area (Coordinators, teachers, students..)” 29/06/2015